Where is the pancreas?
The pancreas is a large gland that lies alongside the stomach and the small bowel. It is about six inches long.
What does the pancreas do?
The pancreas carries out two important roles:
- It makes digestive juices, which consist of powerful enzymes. These are released into the small bowel after meals to break down and digest food.
- It makes hormones that control blood glucose levels.
The pancreas produces hormones in its 'endocrine' cells. These cells are gathered in clusters known as islets of Langerhans and monitor what is happening in the blood. They then can release hormones directly into the blood when necessary. In particular, they sense when sugar (glucose) levels in the blood rise, and as soon as this happens the cells produce hormones, particularly insulin. Insulin then helps the body to lower blood glucose levels and 'store' the sugar away in fat, muscle, liver and other body tissues where it can be used for energy when required.
The pancreas is very close to the stomach. When food is eaten, it predigests in the stomach for 30 minutes or so from the enzymes in the food or the digestive enzymes taken with the meal. As the food leaves the stomach and goes into the small intestine the pancreas releases digestive enzymes into the bowel to continue the digestive process. As the food is digested, and nutrient levels in the blood rise, the pancreas produces insulin to help the body store the glucose (energy) away. Between meals, the pancreas does not produce insulin and this allows the body to gradually release stores of energy back into the blood as they are needed.
Glucose levels remain very stable in the blood at all times to ensure that the body has a steady supply of energy. This energy is needed for metabolism, exercise and, in particular, to fuel the parts of the brain that 'run' on glucose. This makes sure that the body doesn’t starve between meals.
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R-Garden Herbal Blends are formulated and designed to feed, nourish and cleanse specific systems of the mind and body. There are thousands of known useful herbs on this planet! The Bio-Data Herbal Research Group, which originally formulated these blends for us, chose from over 1,500 of these available substances. They located the finest and most useful types of herbs and concentrated foods that could be obtained and put these into our herbal blends. We have continued to test and refine these blends based on newly available research. We have also added an enzyme activation blend to make these nutrients even more readily digestible and easy to assimilate.